My original U.S. Pat. No. 2,444,526 was granted on Jul. 6, 1948. The test boat built in about 1948 was sailed only three times before it was wrecked against a seawall in a thunder storm. I know of no other boat ever having been built, because it wasn""t very practical the way that the sails and rigging were built.
I am now applying for a New Patent based upon an improvement in the design of the Sails and Rigging. These improvements were learned from the test boat that was lost. This patent application is not for the boat, but rather for the design of the Sails and Rigging.
My Patent was U.S. Pat. No. 2,444,526 dated Jul. 6, 1948 on the design of a Sail Boat; but as far as I know, except for the test boat, it has not been used by me or anyone else. Probably because the Sail and Rigging Design was not practical without the improvements that I am now including in this new Patent Application based upon an xe2x80x9cImprovementxe2x80x9d.
This design was originally conceived while sailing a sixteen foot Snipe Sail Boat in a twenty-five mile wind. Before we hoisted the sails at the dock, the stern was almost under water with the weight of four of us in the stern. After setting sail we were sailing with a wind of twenty-five miles per hour abeam (90 degrees off of our side). We were sailing North and South, the wind was from the East. The four of us were now sitting, as it were, on the high end of a see-saw. The bow was now almost under water, even though the bow was the widest, deepest, and most buoyant part of the hull. The sail was creating a downward force in the bow that I estimated to be equal to the weight of eight people, or about 1400 lbs. Down in the bow. (See Drawingxe2x80x94I).
I was an Air force Pilot with a talent for aircraft design, and I was amazed as I watched the bow being driven down by the sail forces. Then I understood why the Conventional Sail Design can not be used on a fast Planing Speed Boat Hull. The Speed Boat Planing Hull must carry the weight in the stern.
Suddenly I understood what sailors mean when they say a sailboat is lugging canvas! I understood how a mast could be driven through the keel in heavy weather, and how one could gain speed by shortening sail, and letting the hull rise out of the water.
My analytical mind was racing to find a reason for this terrible downward pressure in the bow. We were dragging a large wave behind us and the windward stay sounded like a Base Fiddle string. I had heard that the forces from the sail are transmitted by the mast to the hull, and I could see it happening.
The force being created by the sail, if properly directed, I estimated would drive my sixteen foot Chris-Craft at a speed of about thirty miles per hour, but not with the downward force in the bow. As it was, we were doing about ten miles per hour.
The force diagram on Drawing No. I shows where the forces are on the conventional sail and where they are mounted on the hull. (I am told that the forces created by the sail increase as the square of the wind velocity increase).
When I discovered where the downward force was coming from that prevented the use of the sail on a speedboat hull; the next task was to redesign the Sails and the Rigging and attempt to eliminate the downward force, so that the sail could be used on a fast speedboat planing hull. The results of some experiments was exciting! The downward force had been eliminated and an upward force in the bow had been created! You will see in Drawing No. 2 the new Force Diagram, which allows the Sail and Rigging to be used on any fast planing hull.
This design will improve the performance of any Sail Boat, Catamaran, Scow, or Hydro Foil Boat, but mounted on a properly designed speedboat hull its speed is unlimited; it depends on the speed of the wind and the ability of the crew to hold it down.
This is the first major change in Sailboat Sail and Rigging Design in about one hundred years, since the Marcony Rig Design. This is the fastest Sail Boat Design in existence. Tests indicate that the Sail and Rigging Design on the proper hull should attain a speed of approximately fifty miles per hour in a thirty mile wind, and faster in higher wind conditions. Ice boats will do ninety miles per hour in about thirty miles of wind, but of course, they have little drag.
More details of the design will be explained in the section of this application entitled xe2x80x9cDetailed Description of the Designxe2x80x9d.
Conventional Sail Boats are slow; they draw a lot of water because of their deep keels; they are narrow and lack space inside because of the hull design. They have narrow displacement hulls in an effort to increase their slow speeds; then they have to have deep heavy keels for stability, which also increase the drag underwater.
They spend millions of dollars on Americas Cup Boats in Wind Tunnels and Water Tanks trying to get more speed; but sadly, their Basic Design is flawed. It has been done that way for a hundred years, and so they keep on doing it.
Drawing No. 1 shows the displacement Hull that is deep up forward where the mast is stepped. The hull has to be deep and wide up forward to support the downward force created by the Sails, and transmitted to the hull through the mast. You could put ten thousand horsepower in that boat and you would gain very little speed, because water is heavy and it will not move fast.
You must get out of the water and plane on top of the water like a stone in order to be fast. When the stone is skipping over the water, it is fast, but when is digs into the water, it stops at once!
The whole concept of the Pawley Sail and Rigging Design is to eliminate the downward forces created by the Conventional Sail and Rigging design so that the Sails can be used on a fast planing hull. Drawing No. 2 shows clearly the forces created by the Pawley Design which make it ideal for fast planing hulls.
The Foresail looks like a Spinnaker but it is not! There is a vast difference in SAIL design; in SAIL mounting; and in SAIL performance!
The Pawley sails are made to lie flat on the floor (a conventional sail will not because it has a belly sewed into it). The Pawley sail is made to act like an aeroplane wing creating one directional force. See Drawing No. 2. The sails can be made of any Sail material cloth; Dacron, Plastic or even light metal like an aeroplane wing.
For years they have made conventional masts streamlined to reduce the disturbance of the windflow over the mainsail. The Mainsail of the Pawley Design is mounted on the Forestay (a cable) it has no disturbance of the windflow over the Mainsail. The smaller of the two sails is mounted aft on a Midstay (a cable) under an xe2x80x9cA-framexe2x80x9d or a xe2x80x9cU framexe2x80x9d mast. This eliminates all disturbance of the windflow over the Aft Sail also. See Drawing No. 3.
You will notice in Drawing No. 2 that whatever Mast is used it is mounted Amid-ship or aft of Amid-ship and it is raked Aft so that the Mast-Head is almost over the stern of the boat. This increases the length of the Forestay thereby increasing the length of the airfoil section of the Foresail; it also raises the angle of lift created by the Sail, from horizontal.
You will also notice that Wishbone Booms are used instead of the conventional wooden or metal booms. See Drawing No. 2. This is absolutely necessary in order to maintain the airfoil shape of the sail so that it will produce one directional force instead of two. Anything that will help to keep the airfoil shape in the sail should be used, such as stiff Plastic Sail material or battens or maybe a constructed airfoil section.
You will notice in Drawing No. 2 that the hull is a fast planing hull. The hull is wide and the keels are thin metal or fiberglass sheets with no weight, and practically no drag.
This is a brief summary of the Invention. I will cover more detail later on in the